Engin Atsür

Engin Atsür — Biography

Engin Atsür is a former Turkish national-team point guard. He played college basketball in the United States at North Carolina State, then turned out for Efes Pilsen, Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray in Turkey and for Alba Berlin and Orlandina Basket abroad. At 1.94 m, he earned 113 caps for Turkey in all, 59 of them with the senior side. He also holds German citizenship through his mother.

He started playing at the Geleceğin Yıldızları sports school at his father's urging and came through the Efes Pilsen youth system. On a basketball scholarship at North Carolina State, where he studied business administration, he started at point guard for four years; his 1,181 points place him 33rd on the school's list of 1,000-point scorers. He signed his first professional contract in 2007 with Benetton Treviso in Italy, then joined Efes Pilsen. After a successful season at Beşiktaş he moved to Fenerbahçe, and in 2012 to Galatasaray, with whom he won the league title in 2013 by beating Banvit in the finals. He went back to Beşiktaş in 2014, joined Alba Berlin in 2016 and Orlandina Basket in 2017. In 2018 he agreed to play in Italy's fourth division to live closer to his volleyball-playing wife.

With the national junior side he averaged 22.3 points at the 2002 European Championship, where he was named the best shooting guard of the tournament. He made his senior debut against Brazil at the 2006 FIBA World Championship. At the 2009 Mediterranean Games he represented Turkey with the B national team and won third place.